India and England will look to seek better batting performance from their team as the middle order of both sides had struggled to get going in the first Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
The visitors will want their experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to deliver the goods and also their skipper Virat Kohli to come up with big runs.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul had provided a good start in the first innings whereas the tail had also contributed down the order. Rahul was one of the biggest positives in the batting department for the tourists as he returned with scores of 84 and 26 runs in the first Test. Meanwhile, India’s seam bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has been ruled out of the first Test match will be interesting to note to plays between
On the other hand, apart from Joe Root, all the England batsmen struggled to find any kind of impetus and in fact none of them could go past the 50-run mark. Root scored 64 runs in the first innings and 109 runs in the second essay and played a key role in helping his team secure a draw.
Moreover, England has a problem of plenty as Stuart Broad has been ruled out of the series due to calf tear whereas James Anderson is also doubtful with a tight quad. Thus, England will lack experience in their bowling line-up if Anderson fails to achieve match fitness.
Prediction: India will begin the contest as favorites as they have the right balance whereas England will need to pull up their socks in the batting department.
England Probable Playing XI: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson/Saqib Mahmood.
India Probable Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin/Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
India squad: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (Wicket-Keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket-Keeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Suryakumar Yadav (yet to join), Prithvi Shaw (yet to join)
Standby players: Prasidh Krishna, Arzan Nagwaswalla
England squad: Joe Root (Captain), Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Jos Buttler (Wicket-Keeper), Mark Wood, Sam Curran, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (Wicket-Keeper), Dominic Bess, Moeen Ali, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton.
